


The "peace maker" (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 22 - Argy-bargy)

by Ivelia



Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [22]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Patch 5.1: Vows of Virtue; Deeds of Cruelty Spoilers, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:02:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivelia/pseuds/Ivelia
Summary: Part of my attempt for #FFXIVWrite2020 - September 22 (Day 22 - Argy-bargy)Remembering a man wishing for everlasting unity and peace.Spoilers for Patch 5.1, please read at your own discretion!
Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906951
Kudos: 1





	The "peace maker" (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 22 - Argy-bargy)

\- “And just like that, the Garlean emperor, Varis zos Galvus, was slain.”

As she made her reports on these fresh news from the Source, her fellow Scions sank in silence, probably more to ponder the implications of this violent, unexpected change, than to pay respects to the man.

She remembered the last time they saw the man, at the “peace talks” near Ghimlyt. Even though  _ peace  _ was probably not the exact term he had in mind when accepting the invitation. She remembered the  _ heavy  _ dressing down he gave the Alliance leaders at that time, mercilessly exposing their shortcomings and hypocrisy with no regards to their face. Honestly, if the victims had not been the current heads of the coalition of city states of Eorzea, with whom she mostly had a cordial if not outright friendly relationship, she would have found this kinda funny. But with the almost visible cloud of gloom floating over the room during the recess in the  _ negotiation _ , she could only offer a sympathetic sigh:

\- “Well, he didn’t pull out any punches”. As expected from someone who had to fight for the northern throne, on the battlefield, in court intrigue and through underhanded ways. He also had come prepared to tear ruthlessly through their defenses, having obviously studied their weaknesses extensively.

Lyse and Hien were painted as idealist figureheads who sacrificed the stability of their people in the subjugated areas of Doma and Ala Migho for their grand ideals; Aymeric, as the representative of a theocracy turned into a republic based on lies and massacre (she really felt bad for him on this one, since from start, he didn’t even  _ want this job _ , and surely did not sign up to have his dirty laundry aired in public). Merlwyb was decried as the admiral of a thalassocracy oppressing nearby beast men settlements, elected via a  _ freaking pirate boat race _ and maintained in power for convenience’s sake, Kann-E-Senna was at the head of a theocracy, but with Elementals… No one was spared. 

She was quite glad that she’d come here as a silent moral support. If she had to talk, she would probably have gotten hauled over the coals too as “a god-slaying sell-sword working for a shady religious organisation” or something. Which was in a way, kinda true. But sometimes, bare, contextless truth did  _ hurt _ .

Some  _ peace talks _ it had been, alright. And after having shredded his opponents to bits, he proceeded to drop on them a veritable bombshell; that the dreaded Garlean empire had been created by Ascians, so that they might be able to bring about their grand Rejoining, to unite the world as a unique race, free from dissent and discord, at the cost of countless lives.  His approval of the idea, more than the enormity of the revelation, had stumped her:

\- (Why would he reveal this to us ? Did he really approve of this?)

He did get glowing praise from Regula von Hydrus, who, in spite of the fact that he was a military leader from an enemy nation hellbent on genocide, had been a kinda alright person. So it felt kind of weird that he’d suddenly decide that the annihilation of most of the world’s population, including this time his own pure-blooded citizens, was an OK sacrifice for the greater good. She ironically thought back to Emet-Selchs’s admonishments, when he asked them if half of their population would sacrifice themselves to save the other… From the  _ front value _ of Varis’ words, it seemed that the answer was a small number, at least, was OK with this, and willing to make everyone else OK with it too, even if they had to use the might of their magitek weapons to  _ convince  _ them. She still found that pill a bit hard to swallow, almost as hard as imagining the cold faced emperor going cheerfully “Why yes, actually-not-dead grandfather, I’ll burn the empire to the ground for sake of your long dead civilization“ once he had learnt of the truth of the world. Yeah, no.

Surely, he couldn’t have really thought that they would have been okay with that outrageous proposal of “actually rejoin the worlds so that we could become whole again and stand up to the Ascians”? If the goal had just been to rid the world of their shadowy menace, white auracite and a sufficient amount of aether had been known to be enough of a solution at that time; surely, his well-informed intelligence services wouldn’t have missed this information. So destroying a few more stars to that end was a  _ bit  _ excessive.

… Had he been tempered? His eyes did not sport the telltale glow of people that had been  _ touched _ , and as he had painfully demonstrated before, he was still  _ quite _ articulate, compared to the usual mindless thralls, but maybe a moderate alteration of judgement would not bring about such visible symptoms?

She refused to believe that such an objectively  _ clever  _ person would have been naive enough to believe the Ascians’ gospel (especially since he seemed to hate them so much) or to think that he would be able to one up them using the cards that they had dealt themselves. It did seem that he had been served an “modified” version of the genesis of their current world, since he didn’t mention that negligible, unimportant part that stated that the whole thing was a plot to prime the world to a state where part of the lives created would be sacrificed to fuel the restoration of the Ascian’s people, the Amorautines.

She sighed. The man had been unreadable. The fact that he had specifically wanted her to attend the meeting had been bothering her at that time, too. Was it to make sure that they would know that the seeds of discord had been sown by their arch nemesis, ensuring that they’d take part in this war, in case they had been tempted to stay outside of politics, and thus be at the forefront once the Black Rose had been deployed? Or was it in hopes that they would stop this madness, helping him to get rid of the Ascian menace while he was biding his time, ready to realize his grand ambitions of one world unified under Garlean rule, once they had conveniently rid him of those inconvenient puppet masters? Did he really think that she would accept his entreaties to commit a multi star genocide based on the shady promises from hooded Paragons? Men of the Galvus line always seemed to want to enroll the Warrior of Light in their crazy plots, somehow...

Whatever. In the end, he had died. Whatever thoughts or grand plans he had, they would amount to nothing but maybe a fancy note in the most expansive history books. The only thing of import right now was the delicate issue of his succession; whoever inherited the position he had left open would likely become a thorn in their side. She thought that at least, it was a good thing that Zenos was gone, showing no interest in his sire’s throne, right? 

Right?

**Author's Note:**

> Today's word is "Argy-bargy" [a vigorous discussion or dispute]  
> ... When I saw the prompt, I wanted to cry xD because I had just posted something about "characters having a heated discussion" for day 21 xD /unlucky  
> Welcome to another "attempt to character analysis poorly disguised as a fic" I guess.  
> I've been forever salty about Varis' ridiculous, now unresolved about face (actually Zenos offing Varis is one of the things I'm mad at him for... like, eviscerate other beloved chars? No biggie, cutie, I can [Cure II] this shit. Cut down a char that had potential plot threads attached to hem? NOT OK, you homicidal piece of-)


End file.
